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It is now 22 years since Nonot Taryono, a resident of Bongas village, turned his back on the trade of young women for prostitution networks in the Bongas district.

When we say trafficker, it is often the image of the gangster from the countries of Eastern Europe that comes to mind, with all its attendant violence, kidnapping and murder. In Indramayu, one discovers a very different reality.

As prostitution has been openly practiced for more than 1000 years, there is a banalization and acceptance of this way of life with all that comes with which is beyond the understanding for us Westerners.

Here, it is often the families and the girls who approach the traffickers so that they find them work as prostitutes. The trafficker is also recruiting but the coercion comes often from the family who sees an opportunity to make their daughters profitable.

Like the majority of the inhabitants of the village of Bongas, Nonot became a trafficker out of necessity. It is a well paid occupation because the trafficker receives very good commissions for service rendered.

Nonot, left with the cap. To his right, with a straw in his mouth, we find Sukim. Two former traffickers became interveners with the NGO Kusuma Bongas.

Although problems with the police and the government have prompted Nonot to consider abandoning human trafficking, it is especially his meeting with Mr. Yeremias Wutun, a social worker and founder of 3 NGOs fighting against the sexual trafficking of minors, which represented a turning point.

Confronted by Mr. Wutun with the terrible consequences of his actions on the girls, Nonot and Sukim then agreed to change their life and work for the NGO Kusuma Bongas and help young girls get out of prostitution, or even better not to enter.

Talitha Koumi is proud to be a partner of the NGO Kusuma Bongas to help fight the sex trafficking of girls in Indonesia.

By the way, Kusuma Bongas means in Indonesian The flowers of Bongas, the flowers being, you guessed it, the girls of this village.